Girls Who Love Wine

The stars aligned for two of my best buds from college to come out to the Bay Area for a visit two weekends ago. Jonathan agreed to babysit while we spent the weekend in Sonoma. We had so much fun that it had me scratching my head as to why we hadn’t done this sooner. It was my first kid free weekend in nearly 2 years and that alone made it pretty fabulous. Add in the fact that it included world class food and wine and it was basically the perfect getaway. 

We rented a little cottage near downtown Sonoma and spent 2 days exploring what the wine region had to offer. Our first stop was lunch at Sunfower Caffe in Sonoma Square. 

We loved catching up on the sun dappled patio, Michal with a glass of white wine, April with an Arnold Palmer, and me with a Mexican Coke. Oh yea- I was getting crazy! 

We highly recommend ordering the cookie.

After lunch we headed to Buena Vista for a cave tour and tasting. I always like to start wine trips with a full on educational tour. You learn what the region is known for and a little bit about the history and process that goes into it. Buena Vista is famous for being the first winery in California and the grounds are beautiful. 

Not to mention the wine was top notch so it was a perfect start to our Sonoma education. Plus we got to taste out of the barrels which is always my favorite wine tour experience. 

And it brainwashed us into thinking that Petite Sirah is the best wine on the planet, well, other than Pinot Noir of course. Speaking of which, the Pinot at Buena Vista was incredible. I can’t believe I only came home with one bottle. It is seriously the perfect wine. 

Anyhoos, after our cave tour we headed back to downtown Sonoma for some shopping before our 6:30 dinner reservations at the famous Girl and the Fig restaurant. 

The next day we hired a driver through Valet of the Moon which in essence is hiring a designated driver to drive your personal vehicle for a day of wine tastings. I highly recommend hiring some sort of driving service when you visit the wine country. First off, there is no having to abstain from trying the wines and also, they can give great tips on where to go. Plus they double as a photographer so everyone gets in the photo and it limits the need to take selfies! 

We were shocked and overwhelmed at just how many wineries are located in Sonoma Valley. But Valet of the Moon helped us put together an itinerary based on the types of wines we liked (basically anything red or white or sparkling). We wanted to get a good sampling of Sonoma so asked for a big producer as well as a smaller winery or two. 

We started the day at Gloria Ferrar which is known for it’s sparkling wine. 

We got there early and snagged a beautiful table on the terrace with a great view. 

A thing of beauty...

Sparkling wine always helps to kick start a day of relaxation and celebration! 

Next we headed to Robledo Family Winery which was much lower key. We weren’t too impressed with the wines there but enjoyed the tasting experience. 

Next we decided we needed some lunch to sop up some of the wine in our bellies so stopped at a local deli to stock up on food (and funfetti cake) before heading to Landmark Vineyards for a picnic and another tasting. 

The grounds at Landmark were really impressive and the perfect spot for lunch. Their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were also quite tasty and reasonably priced so I snagged a few bottles while we were there. 

We decided we had one more tasting in us so headed to the jam packed Imagery tasting room. The three of us decided to split two tastings since we are light weights and 4 tastings in one day is a bit much! 

After a day of wine we headed back to the cottage for some down time before heading to dinner at Harvest Moon. After dinner we cracked open a bottle of red, piled into the sofa bed and watched season 1 of Felicity which is sort of a girls weekend tradition. 

The next morning we hit Sunflower Caffee again for morning cocktails and a hearty breakfast before heading back to Buena Vista for some more bottles of Pinot Noir and Champagne. 

The problem with going to the best winery first is that you don’t realize it’s the best so you don’t buy enough of the stuff the first time around. Plus, the entire trip was a bachelorette party for April who is getting married in December and we wanted a nice bottle of Champagne to have while we’re getting ready for wedding time. Fun fact: Buena Vista actually has a few vineyards in France so they can call their sparkling wine ‘Champagne’ since the grapes that go into their bubbly are harvested in that region. After our second round at Buena Vista we headed back to San Ramon for Michal and April to spend some time in my town and hanging out with Forest. 

It was a low key night with Thai takeout and more Felicity. 

#TeamNoel

The next day I dropped my girls off at the BART station to catch the train into San Francisco where they spend the day sightseeing and then flew out the next morning. Thanks for coming out this way for a visit, girls! It was sooooooooooo good for my soul. Let’s make it an annual thing, shall we?